I've been having problems with Red Slime for some time now. I've been trying to take control of it by doing water changes and cutting down on feeding to every three days and siphoning. I will be going on vacation soon and I'm afraid that when I come back my tank will be covered with the Red Slime. I will have a non-reefer looking over my tank. He will feed the fishes for three days while I'm gone. I'm thinking of using a Red Slime remover to take control of it while I'm gone. I will only use it for the week that I'm gone than will return to my maintenance schedule. Do you think this will be OK? Has anyone used it before with success? Does it take long to remove the Slime after adding it to the tank?
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Red Slime Additive
- Thread starter ricwilli
- Start date
Results are pretty much immediate. Don't bother with red slime x or whatever it's called. Just use the active ingredient (erythromycin). Use it for full duration without any carbon. It will kill all gram positive bacteria. Most beneficial bacteria are gram negative so you won't have a cycle. It should be reef safe but you don't know what other bacteria you might lose. You might as well wait till you come back in case your non-reefer friend overfeeds or something. I've been fighting my cyano for a few months and am still adamant against a chemical cure. I am about to win the hair algae battle. Down to only 1 rock now and the CUC is attacking it slowly.
I do not recommend the use of any red slime remover products. Yes, they do work, see the above posts. However, if you have a problem with with it, the cause is excess phosphates and/or nitrates. Unless you correct the cause, all your do is get rid of the cyano, only to have it replaced with some other problem algae, such as green hair algae.
I also recommend that you don't have anyone else, especially a non-reef person feed the tank for you unless you'll be away longer then a week or so. Unless you have some extremely demanding livestock, they will get through the vacation period just fine.
I also recommend that you don't have anyone else, especially a non-reef person feed the tank for you unless you'll be away longer then a week or so. Unless you have some extremely demanding livestock, they will get through the vacation period just fine.
I have used the erythromycin in the past as a last resort,but as others have said nitrates and phosphates are usually the cause,you could also try the 3 days out of lights to help aid in the battle.also manually remove what you can and have a gd protein skimmer to take any additional excess nutrients out.Feed fish sparingly too,these statements are just IMO,gd luck in the battle
I've had good success with it in the past, but be sure not to use too much. I dosed it on the heavy side one time and had an immediate negative reaction from my sps corals. Most of them recovered, but it was ugly for a while.
The most important thing is to correct the underlying cause, as stated in previous replies, but the proper use of the product can be very satisfying.
Good luck.
The most important thing is to correct the underlying cause, as stated in previous replies, but the proper use of the product can be very satisfying.
Good luck.
I stuck by the no additive method myself and it seems to be going well thus far.
I had a LARGE outbreak of red cyano (slime) and I followed several users suggestions:
- first week a 50% water change
- I also made another 10 gal of water and MANUALLY Scrubbed each piece of live rock with a toothbrush to remove any red, green and hair algae.
- lighting decreased to 6 hours a day periods and only 1x96watt 10,000 bulb.
- The 2nd week (5 days later) the red cyano was pretty much total back on the bottom coral substrate, but not really on the rocks.
- I did another 50% water change and brushed the rocks off a bit with a baster
- 3rd week (6 days later) I did a 20% water change, but there was only a smaller patches of red cyano.
- Today (5 days later) there are small patches of red
I had a LARGE outbreak of red cyano (slime) and I followed several users suggestions:
- first week a 50% water change
- I also made another 10 gal of water and MANUALLY Scrubbed each piece of live rock with a toothbrush to remove any red, green and hair algae.
- lighting decreased to 6 hours a day periods and only 1x96watt 10,000 bulb.
- The 2nd week (5 days later) the red cyano was pretty much total back on the bottom coral substrate, but not really on the rocks.
- I did another 50% water change and brushed the rocks off a bit with a baster
- 3rd week (6 days later) I did a 20% water change, but there was only a smaller patches of red cyano.
- Today (5 days later) there are small patches of red
I finally gave up and bought the UltraLife Red Slime Remover. I mixed the thing up as per directions. Interestingly enough, it says no arythromycin or algaecide. They must use some other antibiotic that affects gram positive bacteria. Added it and it gave a yellow/green tint to the entire display. Almost immediately, the skimmer went berserk so I shut it off. Zoas and palys closed up almost immediately. All other corals looked ok. Cyano started breaking up and lifting away within minutes. The tint stayed for roughly a day. Almost all cyano was gone within 24 hours and all gone within 48. Looks like it does work and nothing I can see got harmed as a result. Still, I don't think this is the the best thing to use but if desperate, this thing does work.